In The News

The Iraqi regime agrees to send its foreign minister to Geneva for talks with Secretary of State James A Baker III.

In a videotaped New Year’s greeting to “all the wonderful people of the soviet Union,” President Bush offered encouragement to a beleaguered Mikhail S. Gorbachev, saluting he and his people for undertaking “an arduous journey” toward anew society.”

President Mikhail S. Gorbachev called on citizens to unite and bring the country out of its deepening crisis.

President Bush insists that Secretary of State James A. Baker III will not engage in ‘secret diplomacy” when he meets with Iraq’s foreign minister this week in Geneva. His message will be for Iraq to get out of Kuwait or face consequences.

Evacuees from Somalia’s capital tell of a city in smoke and corpses everywhere.

Operation Desert Shield has already claimed the lives of 52 Americans in the Persian Gulf region and 34 more in two accidents outside the military theater.

Meanwhile in Iraq – some Congressional leaders say that Congress will vote to authorize President Bush to go war with Iraq.

The White House concedes that the U.S. is in a recession. Banks cut their prime interest rate to 9.5%.

A sniper hit a school bus near Cape Cod, killing one high school basketball player. The bus was carrying 13 girls from a New Bedford High School freshman basketball team to a game at Falmouth, Mass.

The “Voice of Free Iraq” aimed at undermining support for Saddam Hussein begins broadcasting. The station refers to Hussein as “the very Satan,” “despot,’ tyrant” and “crooked."

In Texas, Diana Lumbrera is accused of killing her 6 children – convicted of smothering one and is charged with the deaths of four others. Friends believe it was witchcraft.

White supremacist Byron de La Beckwith is arrested again and could be returned to Mississippi this week to face a third trial for the 1963 slaying of civil rights leader Medgar Evers. He was arrested on a governor’s warrant charging him with first-degree murder and has been jailed without bond. He is 70.

The nation’s unemployment rate jumps to 6.1% - the highest level in 3 ½ years.

Federal officials seize the Bank of New England group and promised to protect all deposits – the third biggest bank collapse in U.S. history.

The New York City Tribune – founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in 1976 suspends publication for a second time. The newspaper’s weekday circulation is 12,000.

Technology news – January 1, 1991

We love it – taking videos with Sony’s “Handycam” video 8. So far – 1 million have been sold worldwide and it was one of the hottest Christmas presents.

Top pop music albums – January 1, 1991

To The Extreme – Vanilla Ice

Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em – M.C. Hammer

The Immaculate Collection – Madonna

Mariah Carey – Mariah Carey

I’m You baby Tonight – Whitney Houston

Music news – January 1, 1991

Madonna’s “Justify My Love” video is too racy to be played on MTV and may be pulled from some retail shelves. Some also believe it has an anti-Semitic new testament passage.

Pay-per-view – Tina Turner’s “The Queen of Rock Struts her Stuff.”

Top TV Shows/Ratings – January 1, 1991

60 Minutes – 23.3

Cheers – 16.6

Full House – 16.4

The Cosby Show – 15.8

Family matters – 15.7

Murder, She Wrote – 15.7

Unsolved Mysteries – 15.2

A Different World – 15.2

The Golden Girls – 14.4

America’s Funniest Home Videos – 14.4

Empty Nest – 13.5

Jake and the Fatman – 13.4

Perfect Strangers – 13.2

Matlock – 13.0

Television news - January 1, 1991

NBC News launches its 24-hour News Channel, transmitting video films of late-breaking news, sports and features from a new base in Charlotte (Nc.) to network affiliates for local use. NBC News Channel will feed raw and edited footage, including foreign, domestic and regional material to local stations, which can edit the reports for the newscasts.